Dancin' In Circles
by solesurvivor2287
Summary: She'd been the newest member to Alexandria until Rick's group came along. She's got a bad feeling about them, but can't help but notice how charming their leader seems to be. Here's her story on how she handles living in Alexandria with this new group and possible new crush. Possible Rick/OC, possibly not ;) Rated T for now, will change later on. Starting around season 5
1. Chapter 1

_Hey everyone! I took a break from writing and decided to start a story about a character I kinda just came up with. I don't own TWD or its characters, just Rose. This is one of those stories that I haven't really planned out, so it's just developing as I go. Hope to hear what you guys think!_

* * *

"Looks like someone's got a little crush already!" Olivia jabbed Rose in the side, laughing as she kept track of the armory. They'd been teasing her most of the day because she just so happened to give a double take to one of the newest group members.

Jessie shrugged, "I don't blame you, Rose. He is pretty handsome, especially after his haircut…" she gave out a small smirk as she continued to help Olivia keep track of the weapons.

"Will you two please shut up already?" Rose was annoyed, _why do I even talk to these two_ , she wondered to herself. She felt cooped up inside, she belonged outside of the walls. For a while, she'd been trying to convince Deanna to let her do something similar to Aaron's job, but every time Deanna insisted she stay within the walls.

You see, Rose was just as capable out there as Aaron. She was lucky to have learned to shoot as a kid, and had killed her fair share of walkers. Roamers. Floaters, whatever you wanted to call them. And she'd killed her fair share of other people, only when necessary, of course.

As for scavenging….well she didn't do it officially, of course, she had the tendency to go over the wall at night and return in the morning with some scavenged goods. Occasionally, she would join Deanna's sons but it wasn't too common, since Aiden was an annoying asshole. Besides, Spencer had also been getting a little needy lately and she just wasn't up for that kind of shit.

Rose tried to help out as much as often around Alexandria, but the jobs for women seemed like such bullshit. All kinds of crap like cooking, washing clothes, and all that. She wanted to be out there, she needed to be out there.

She also didn't trust the new group. Who the hell were they anyways? They just rolled up out of nowhere and settled in like it was their place. Rose was confused as to why Deanna would even let them in in the first place, let alone make two of their people the constables. When she first came to Alexandria, she was treated as an outsider. She had to earn her place, it wasn't just handed to her on a silver platter. The thought of having to get along with this new group sickened her.

"Rose? You gonna help out?" Olivia asked before running through her list again.

Rose sighed, "Nope, heading home." She let out a small smile, "I'm already sick of you two." She knew Deanna would be pissed that she wasn't helping out, but she didn't really give a shit. Rose was already tired of being "social" and just wanted to get away from everyone. She also wasn't feeling too great about the new group, and wanted to avoid them at all costs. There was just something about them...

Jessie laughed, "Stop it, you like us and you know it." Yeah, okay, maybe she did, even though they were annoying sometimes. It was just hard to try to live the normal life that people in Alexandria insisted on living. Rose spent too much time outside the walls, it was hard to pretend to be happy and jolly all the time or to feel safe.

* * *

Her home was small, at least smaller in comparison to the other ones in Alexandria. Rose felt grateful that Deanna allowed her to stay by herself, she likely had the feeling that Rose was better off being alone.

She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, already feeling annoyed. Spencer was probably going to stop by later to "talk", as he liked to call it. Every time he'd come around, it'd all end the same way. That was probably one of the few things she actually liked about Alexandria.

Instead of staying inside the rest of the night, she decided on a cigarette instead. Something small to clear her mind. It was funny, because before all of this, she found them to be repulsive. It was a nasty habit her husband had and she smiled at the memories of her nagging him to drop it. He'd probably laugh at her now if he saw her lighting one up between her lips.

The day was starting to get dark, which was probably her favorite time of day. It meant that she would be able to get past the wall and more or less do her own thing. She knew just the right spot in the wall that the guards tended to overlook, that or they just didn't care too much. Rose liked to think that she was just really sneaky.

Part of her enjoyed going out at night, there was a small hope that she would run into her group again. Of course, that wasn't the case. It was never going to be the case. They were all dead. She saw them die, get torn apart by a walker ambush. And then she was left on her own, for God knows how long. She was surprised she managed to keep herself alive for as long as she did before meeting Aaron, who scared the hell out of her the first time they met. Sneaky little shit.

She enjoyed a couple more drags of her cigarette as she planned where she was going to go that night. She'd already scouted outside the walls of Alexandria so many times, but never went too far. She didn't want to let her guard down, that's how her group got killed. Damn, how she really missed them. Rose already spent so much time dwelling on the what ifs, what if she was on guard, what if she searched the camp better, what if she was awake. There wasn't a point anymore. She was alive and they weren't. She need to stay alive. She didn't know exactly why or what there was left for her to do, but she know she wanted to live.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Spencer coming up to her front porch. She quickly put out her cigarette and stood up to greet him, "Hey Spence," she began, "what's up?" Rose didn't know why she asked. She knew why he was there, it was so that they could fuck each other's brains out and then pretend it didn't happen the next day. It didn't mean she had to be rude though.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Nothing much, just thought I'd come and give you some company…" he trailed off as he raised a half empty bottle of liquor. She appreciated the gesture, but was more of a beer person herself.

She gave him a smile, "Come on in." she said as she opened the door for him, already feeling a little excited.

* * *

He didn't fuck her like her husband used to, but it was still pretty damn close. She missed the feeling of having someone inside of her, and it helped that Spencer was pretty much the only cute guy in all of Alexandria.

Spencer grunted a few more times before he finished, flopping down beside her to catch his breath. "Wow," he breathed, "that was amazing."

"Mm," she muttered in response as she reached for a cigarette. She tried to refrain from smoking indoors, but who was going to check? "Yeah it was…" she said before lighting it.

Rose wasn't a huge fan of the whole cuddling afterwards, no matter how much she tried to like it. It wasn't that Spencer was a bad guy or anything, she just...didn't really know how to feel about him. She made it clear in the beginning that she was just looking for fun, but was getting the sense that Spencer didn't get that. He'd been hanging around a little longer than usual, or would find excuses to come talk to her. Even going so far as to limit her from going past the walls, which she would find a way around anyways.

She didn't even notice that her cigarette was almost done as she zoned out. She didn't notice that Spencer was trying to get her attention either.

He moved closer to her in bed, trailing small kisses from her shoulder to her neck. She internally cringed, yeah she liked it but it was bordering on the whole feelings line and she couldn't have that.

She felt him smile against her skin, "What's up, Rose?" He gently murmured.

Rose tensed up before scooting away a little bit, "Nothing, why?" She lied, and he could tell. He also felt that she was being a little colder than usual.

"Well you just have been...kinda zoning out a bit…"

She pretended to act surprised, "Oh?" she sat up in bed, using the bed sheets to cover her chest even though it didn't really matter since he'd seen her naked plenty of times. "I just...I don't know..."

He gave her a small smile, "Come on, you can talk to me, Rose." Damn it, she really didn't want to have this conversation. She didn't want to be awkward about it either, and she definitely couldn't just leave him hanging. But right now, it looked like it would be for the best to just slow things down.

Rose sighed before starting, "Look, you're a great guy, Spencer. I like having sex with you and all that...but just lately it's starting to feel like more than that and I just can't have that, I thought I made it clear but I just don't think you get it and I'm starting to feel bad and now, well now I'm just babbling and-"

Spencer slowly pulled away from her, getting out of the bed and starting to get dressed, but she stayed where she was, avoiding eye contact. "This whole time Rose...I thought we were getting closer but-" He stopped himself for a moment, "But that's clearly not what you want. I just want to know why you had to lead me on like this?" He threw his hands up in exasperation, "You could have...I don't even know…" he trailed off before pulling his shirt on.

She started to get defensive, _oh hell no_ , she thought to herself. She didn't lead anyone on, she made it pretty clear from the beginning. "No, that's not fair Spencer. I told you right from the beginning that all I wanted was someone to fuck. I didn't want someone coming over for date nights or cuddling and all that shit. _N_ _obody_ made you come over, _nobody_ told you to try to spend the night, and _nobody_ is making you stay right now." She knew she was being a little harsh but fuck it, she had to make herself clear because _apparently_ he didn't get it the first time.

He backed into the wall and his posture slumped a little as he took in her words, "You know, I thought you would appreciate that but I guess Aiden _was_ right, you're just a mean bitch, you know that, Rose?"

She let out a small laugh, she was almost baffled at his reaction. How could he have the nerve to call _her_ a bitch? She was the one who made it extremely clear in the beginning, she warned him not to catch feelings and yet here he was.

Rose covered her mouth to stifle her laughs, "I'm sorry, Spencer. I really am, I just don't know what to say?" She shrugged, "I thought we both agreed in the beginning about what this was going to be, and well...if you think I'm just a mean bitch then maybe you should just leave..." Was it bad that part of her wanted him to still hate fuck her? She knew it would be inappropriate to ask given the current situation, but hey, maybe there was next time? Whenever Spencer would get over his man period.

His lips pursed into a thin line, clearly still upset. He grabbed the rest of his things, turning around before leaving, "Yeah, maybe I should."

"Okay...well close the door behind you then!" She called out, hoping to get a little bit of a smile out of him. She really didn't want to be a jerk about everything but it was better to nip it in the bud before things got more serious.

* * *

She lay back down in bed with her arm covering her face. Spencer didn't even close the damn door for her, _how rude_ , she thought.

She pulled herself from out of the covers and began to get dressed when she noticed something on the dresser. _Must be my lucky day_ , she thought to herself as she reached over to the bottle of scotch that Spencer had left. Maybe she could take it back to him as a way of saying "sorry for leading you on but I did enjoy the sex", but that didn't seem too appealing. Shrugging, she took a small swig from the bottle and continued to get dressed. She never really was a liquor person, but with the way things were, how could she be picky?

Wanting a breath of fresh air, she opened her front door and brought some cigarettes with her. She noticed she was starting to run out, which was good. Her husband would have wanted her to cut the habit, something about not following his bad habits.

A couple swigs later and she was starting to feel the scotch. She also never really had a good tolerance. This also meant that she probably wasn't going to go past the walls this night. _Next time then,_ she thought before taking another small sip. Hopefully Spencer wasn't going to mind too much, but it didn't really matter. It didn't seem like she'd be seeing him around too much anyways.

As she lit up another cigarette, she noticed a tall man walking down the road. She leaned forward to get a better look, and...well it was the guy in charge of that new group. Rick, that's what his name was, at least that's what she could remember. She'd seen him a couple of times around Alexandria, but never really bothered to introduce herself to him or the rest of the group.

But now? She had a bit of liquid courage and she couldn't hide from the group forever. "Hey!" She called out, almost immediately regretting it. Shit, what was she going to say? Just a "what's up" or a "how you doin'"? _Damn it._

He turned his head and stopped in his tracks, looking almost caught off guard. Rick was wanting to just get home since his shift was just ending, but maybe someone needed help.

Rick walked over to her porch and noticed the bottle of scotch in her hands, _oh boy_ , he thought to himself before asking her, "Everything alright here?"

She snorted at his "greeting", "Of course, _officer._ I'm just saying hi." She was a little tipsy and he could tell, but he didn't have much else to do yet.

He gave out a small smile, he didn't think he'd be dealing with drunk people ever again since all of this started. "Need help or anything?"

"No, of course not. I'm all good, officer." She pushed herself out of the chair, "I just figured I would introduce myself since you guys have been here a while. Rick, right?"

"Yep." He placed his hands on his hips, trying to remember if he'd officially met her already. He'd seen her around but she always seemed to keep to herself, from what others have told him about her. "I'm guessing you're Rose? I've heard about you from the others."

"Oh...shit, was it like good things, at least?" She was a bit of a loner around Alexandria, but would occasionally talk to Olivia or Jessie. And then there's, well was, the occasional hookup with Spencer. But she didn't really spend too much time talking to him, which she preferred.

"Heh, of course." He gave her another gentle smile, "Mostly things about how you just keep to yourself most of the time."

Well, that part was true. But maybe she could change it, starting with offering him a drink? "That's _mostly_ true, but how about I change it up a bit?" She grabbed the bottle and pointed it towards him, "Want to join me for a drink?"

He looked back down the road, his shift had already ended but Michonne and Carol were watching Carl and Judith so he figured it would alright if he stayed for a drink. After all, he hadn't met this woman yet, so he needed to see if there was anything that would be a problem later on.

Rick shrugged his broad shoulders, another little thing she noticed, "I don't see why not."

* * *

 _Next time, Rick stays for a drink! This could either be a slowburn romance or a steamy hot smut, we'll see what happens :D_


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you for the love everyone!_

* * *

"So, does Olivia know about the scotch?" Rick pointed to the now almost empty bottle on the small table separating them.

"Oh jeez, party pooper over here." She chuckled, "It was a gift, don't worry about it." She said as she waved him off, what the hell did it matter anyways? And well, she technically wasn't lying. Spencer _did_ in fact leave the bottle so it more or less became a gift to her - wasn't her problem to deal with.

"Uh huh…" He intended on staying for just one drink but now he was on his third or fourth, he was definitely going to have to make this up to Michonne and Carol later. "So, what took you so long to introduce yourself? You don't seem that shy."

"It's not that I'm shy...I guess, I just- I don't know." She shrugged, "I just have a hard time trusting new people. It's not everyday that a new group just shows up and makes themselves at home like you guys kinda did...not that it's like a bad thing or anything." That and the fact that they seemed to be running the show now instead of Deanna sort of rubbed her the wrong way.

"Hm, I can see that. Still doesn't explain the whole loner thing I've heard about you." He found that a little bit odd in the first place. Most of Alexandria's people seemed on friendly terms with each other and they found the whole community aspect very important. It seemed that she was a little out of place here.

"It's just kinda my thing, I'm used to it. I was the same way with the group I was with."

Rick noticed that it was just her living in the home, so he didn't need to ask about them. She noticed he kept quiet after her answer and kept talking, "Before I came here, I was with a small group, there was about six of us. Shame they didn't make it here." She sighed before continuing, "But I mean, what can you do?"

"You keep on surviving."

"Damn right, and we can drink to that." She grinned as she took a sip from the bottle before passing it over to him.

* * *

The two lost track of time while they shared stories of basically before everything. Rick talked about his time as a police officer, talked a little bit about Lori and Carl. He shared a little bit about the group from before they came to Alexandria, like the prison, but didn't go too much into the details. It was still a little raw for him and he wasn't sure yet that he could trust her, or any of the Alexandrians for the matter. He found them weak, they sure as hell wouldn't be able to fend for themselves if they ever found themselves outside of the walls.

Rick couldn't deny that she seemed a little different than the rest of Alexandrians. She'd told him some about her group and how she ended up at Alexandria. It sounded like she was able to handle herself if she was able to be outside of the walls before coming here.

"So, how's being the constable or whatever it's called?" She asked, breaking the small silence. Rose wanted to change the subject before he'd start asking more personal questions. It was just too early for her to get into it with him. Hell, it took a couple months at least for her to open up to her group and to the person she was closest to, Amanda. Besides, she was tired of hearing about people's condolences. She just wanted to, in a way, forget about it. Just focus on living.

"It's alright, mostly pretty quiet...nothing like being a cop in Atlanta, of course." He turned to her, "What do you do around here? I hardly see you around."

"I'm _supposed_ to help with the cooking and stuff, but fuck that. I'm better with a gun so sometimes I join on any scavenging trips, but that might be changing now…" She trailed off as she thought back to her earlier encounter with Spencer, yeah, it looked like that would definitely be changing.

He chuckled, "And why would that be changing?"

"Oh, just some stuff. Stupid stuff, doesn't matter." She shook her head to herself. Getting involved with Spencer in the first place was probably a mistake, there goes her chances of leaving the walls during the day. Oh well, there was still night time. "I mean, it's whatever, I can get past the wall easily anyways if I wanted to."

He snapped his head back to her, "Oh really?" That's not something he wanted to hear. Alexandria was supposed to have better defenses than this.

"I mean, yeah. Don't get me wrong, the guards do a great job of watching the wall. And so does your sniper, whatever her name is-"

"Sasha." He corrected her.

"Sasha, right. But yeah, it's not hard to find a gap where you can sneak out. Trust me, it was one of the first thing I looked for when I got here, just in case shit ever hits the fan. You always gotta be prepared, you know?"

"Yeah, I do." Rick made a mental note to talk to Deanna about adding more guards for the walls, if she claimed she could sneak out so easily he was worried about the possibility of people sneaking _in_.

Rose yawned before looking over to him, it was starting to get really late now and she figured she might as well get some sleep. That and she wanted to see if she could sober up in time just enough to do her "nightly walk" once he was gone. "Hey, it was nice meeting you finally, Rick. I'm probably going to head to bed though...you should too, your kids are probably waiting for you."

He pushed himself out of his seat, "Yeah, you're right. It was nice meeting you too." He extended his hand out to her.

She shook his hand firmly, "Goodnight, Rick."

He stepped down to the street before turning to her again, "By the way, come say hi to the rest of my group sometime. We're not _that_ scary." He joked before walking the rest of the way home. He enjoyed talking to her surprisingly, and was hoping it wouldn't be the last time he'd see her.

* * *

The next couple of days Rick found himself stopping by her place at the end of his shift. He couldn't help it, he was beginning to enjoy her company and sometimes they were lucky enough to enjoy a beer or two - since the first night they cleaned out the bottle of scotch. She didn't appear to mind too much either, Rose even found herself looking forward to him stopping by. It gave her the chance to just relax, she felt like she could just say whatever was on her mind, unlike when she was around the other people in Alexandria. They didn't seem to understand her like Rick did. She felt herself warming up to the new group too, although she hadn't officially met them yet. She'd been staying indoors helping Jessie or Olivia out whenever possible so that she could avoid Spencer as much as possible. There was the occasional hello to Maggie or Michonne, but for the most part they were still strangers to her.

Their conversations weren't too serious, it was usually just shooting the shit together like two old friends seeing each other after a long time apart. Talking about pretty much anything: guns, places they'd been to, places they've always wanted to go, Carl and Judith, TV shows they missed, even sharing some embarrassing stories from their college years. She was surprised at how much he'd been sharing with her, though he seemed private about his group and their history, something she understood since she was the same way upon her arrival.

That night, she was especially excited to have him come around. She'd finally brought herself to leave the walls the previous night and while she didn't find too many exciting things she _did_ find another bottle of scotch. And not just _any_ bottle of scotch, but a sealed one. She wasn't too familiar with brands, but hey, it was something to be happy over.

Rose could barely hide her excitement when he arrived, "Guess what I have?" She hid the bottle behind her hips.

"Let me guess, flat soda? Stale chips?" He smiled as he took a seat next to her. He couldn't help but admit he was starting to look forward to these small talks with her, it was just a nice end to the day for him. Plus the beer was a nice bonus.

She pulled out the bottle and tossed it to him, "Don't worry about where I got it this time," she said and noticed he quickly got a stern look on his face, "Ugh, Rick. I didn't fucking steal it from the armory! Just trust me and enjoy it, well enjoy it and share with me, of course."

He took a deep breath and gave her a grin, "Where do you keep finding these?"

She pulled the bottle away from him and twisted the cap off to pour some for herself and some for him, "I told you not to worry about it." She reassured him in a soothing voice, "Here". Rose handed him his cup and they both took a sip from it.

As much as she didn't really care for the taste, she could start getting used to it if it meant he'd be coming around more often.

* * *

The next day came around and Rose found herself with a dull headache, "Ugh damn it" she groaned aloud to herself as she crawled out of bed. Why couldn't she just stay in bed and sleep this whole nightmare away? Oh right, that's because that's not how this really worked.

She made her way to her small kitchen to think of something to eat. Her house was small and modest, probably the smallest one in all of Alexandria with just two rooms and one story, but it was enough since she was the only one there. That was probably one of the few things she was grateful for, having her own space. It still didn't mean that she didn't miss her friends, _especially_ Amanda. And she missed Mark, he was probably the best shot in the whole group. Then there was Andrew and Joanie, who found comfort in each other after it all began and often joked about starting a family together - even though she knew they weren't kidding that much. And finally there was Nick, who was like the father of the group. He was the most rational out of them, he always knew what to do even when it seemed like the group was going up shit creek without a paddle. Rose was actually pretty surprised they'd made it so long, that is, until they got caught off guard and were ambushed by a massive roamer hoard.

Rose sniffled and rubbed her eyes harshly, she couldn't cry about it. Not anymore. She'd done too much crying and she didn't have it in her anymore. She was just so sick of losing people. First her husband and kids, and then her group. It almost felt like one big sick fucking joke to her. Which is why she just preferred to keep to herself from now on. She would only have one person to watch over, only one person to be responsible for and just that. But she knew it probably wouldn't be the case with Alexandria, with the whole community living and shit like that.

She'd definitely considered leaving more than once, but each time she had to stop herself. What exactly was out there for her? Alexandria was her best bet at surviving, so that's what she was going to do. Even if it meant she'd go crazy from listening to the people there complain about the most mundane things.

Before getting something for herself to eat, she'd remembered that she completely forgot to clean her handgun. Yes, _her_ handgun. Not a gun from the armory, but _hers_. She knew better than giving up all of her weapons to Olivia. In fact, before arriving to the gates, she hid a small stash somewhere outside the walls. It wasn't anything big, just a couple of guns and knives, but it helped her sleep at night knowing she had a backup plan in case shit _really_ hit the fan there. Besides, it wasn't hurting anyone since no one knew about it.

With the gun parts sprawled across her kitchen table, she carefully cleaned each part meticulously, examining each one to make sure they were still in working condition. Last thing she needed was one of them getting jammed when she really needed it.

Even though it was pretty necessary to clean her gun, it was still a major pain in the ass for her. But she still needed to get it done and needed to quickly, before anyone would somehow see.

She nearly was finished and starting to put the parts back together before she heard three loud knocks on her door, causing her to nearly jump out of her chair. _Shit,_ she thought to herself before getting up. She briefly thought of throwing a towel over it, but that seemed like it would raise more suspicion. "Hold on, be there in a sec!" She called out nervously, hoping whoever it was just was saying hello and would be on their merry way. Hopefully.

Opening to door, she found herself surprised to see it was Rick. She felt a small blush creep up her cheeks, as much as she hated to admit it, she was starting to develop a small (very small, she liked to tell herself) crush on him. She didn't want to admit it, but them spending the past week nights together didn't help it at all. He was an attractive man after all. And he just seemed so different from Spencer, he didn't seem like a cocky asshole. He seemed to understand her better, since him and his group had been surviving outside the walls for so long - just like her.

"Rick! What brings you here right now? Shouldn't you be out there being a police officer and all that shit?"

He laughed, which made her feel a little warm but she tried her best to ignore it. "I'm just stopping by, was going to ask if you had any dinner plans tonight."

Dinner plans? Was Rick asking her…?

"I uh- I" she stammered since she was clearly caught off guard, "No I don't...why?" Her breathing paced a bit as she remembered the gun parts on her table. She tried to carefully gesture him away from the door but her nerves seemed to get the best of her, causing Rick to notice.

"Just wanted to see if you wanted to come over later for dinner…" He trailed off as he tried to read her, "Are you alright, Rose?"

"Uh yeah, I'm great. Sounds great, I can bring the booze or something unless you don't want me to whatever works for you, doesn't matter too much to me…" She started to ramble, a nervous habit of hers.

Rick had a feeling she was hiding something and stepped to the side of her, noticing the gun parts sprawled all over the table. "What the hell is that?" He pointed to the parts spread out.

She sucked in her cheeks and closed the door slowly behind them, "Rick, I promise I can explain."


	3. Chapter 3

_Please let me know what you guys think :) any feedback is appreciated & reviews keep me going! :)_

* * *

Rick didn't know how to feel. Angry? Confused? He could be angry later, he just wanted answers. "What the hell is this, Rose?" His voice barely above a whisper, but still stern. The last thing he wanted was to raise his voice and possibly bring someone's attention to them.

"It's my gun-"

He cut her off, "Did you steal these from the armory?"

She was almost offended that he thought someone like her would steal, "What the fuck? No I didn't take it from the fucking armory, Rick." She spat, angry that he would think that low of her, "It's _my_ gun. Now if you'll excuse me-" Rose reached for the parts on the table but Rick moved in the way, preventing her from getting to them.

"How were you able to keep this?" He motioned to the parts on the table. He was almost impressed if anything, since his group had to give up _all_ of their guns and yet here she was cleaning hers in plain sight. No wonder she liked to live alone in the first place.

"Can I just put it back together at least? I promise that I won't shoot you." She half-heartedly joked while he moved out of the way. Rose hastily reassembled the gun before putting it back down on the table, keeping up with her promise. Not that she could shoot him anyways, she'd come to enjoy having him around. But that was something she tried not to think about too much.

"Look, I know it seems kinda fucked up that I kept mine, but, Rick you should understand of all people. You really think it's safe here with all those walls? Because I sure as shit don't, and that's why I still have this." She pointed to the handgun on the table, yet still keeping her hands off of it to reassure him.

"So you kept your guns? How?" He wanted answers, how was she able to keep hers out of the armory? Did they not check her when she got there like they did with her group? Maybe she lied and pretended to be like Carol, just some happy housewife who was lucky to be alive.

"When I first got to Alexandria…" she paused, what would be the best way to say this - that she basically took her dead group's guns so that's how she was pretty loaded? "I had a lot of guns...I was just lucky, alright? And before I even came to the walls...I stashed a couple of guns and other shit in the woods. I kept one handgun and a knife or two so that it wasn't too suspicious when I got here, and those are the ones I turned in. That's the truth, I promise."

Rick felt like a bit of a hypocrite, but he wasn't going to say that to her. Damn though, she did pretty much the same thing he did. He internally shook his head to himself because that's what the rest of his group should have done instead of turning in their guns. He didn't blame her either for keeping one with her, he knew she had a point. Yeah Alexandria may have high walls, but that didn't mean everyone there was safe, like they pretended to be.

Her voice lowered a bit, "You're not going to tell Deanna, right?" She knew she'd be fucked if Deanna found out. She'd probably have to pack her shit and say goodbye to Alexandria forever. No more home. No more being able to sleep somewhat comfortable at night. And no more Rick...

"No, I won't." He couldn't. Not when Carol was planning on stealing their guns back from the armory. "But how many other people know about this?"

"Just the people in here, Rick. And I'm hoping to keep it that way." She reached over to the gun on the table, knowing that he was probably going to be fine with it. "I hope you're not mad or freaked out. It's just...having that makes me feel safe. I'm not going to give it up."

He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as a means of reassurance, nearly shocking her. That wasn't the reaction she expected, "I understand." He rubbed at his stubble, "Just don't let anyone else find out." That should be easy given how much time she liked to spend alone.

Rose gave him a small smile in response and was about to speak again, until there was a faint knock at the door. "Shit, here take this." She whispered before shoving the handgun in his hands.

"Why?" He whispered back, it would look bad if _either_ of them had a gun.

"Because you're the cop around here, not me!" She replied, then went to answer the door.

 _Ugh_ , she thought to herself knowing full well who it was - Spencer. She opened the door slowly, making sure that all he would be able to see was just her and not Rick and _especially_ not the gun, "Spencer." She said firmly, no hint of warmness in her tone.

"Hi, Rose." Spencer had his hands in his pockets, feeling a little nervous about showing up like this. It'd been over a week since their past fight, and he hadn't seen her around since. "I just wanted to see how you were doing, haven't really seen you around lately."

"Uh huh, look, that's nice and everything but now's not a good time, okay? Maybe some other time."

He scoffed, "Why are you being so short with me?" He was confused, he came all this way to check on her and she had the nerve of having a shit attitude with him. Part of him wondered _why_ he even bothered in the first place.

She mocked his scoff in response, "You're the one who called me a mean bitch! Why are you really here Spencer? Didn't see you being the apologetic type." Her tone was laced with sarcasm, but one, she had a guest, and two, she didn't really want to waste anymore time with him. She was over it, since the two of them clearly had different expectations.

He ran his fingers through his hair, slightly huffing, "Look, I just want to talk about last week. I don't want weird things in between us."

Her face softened a little before speaking, "Sure, but not now buddy. Sorry." She closed the door slightly, hoping that he would get the message.

Instead, Spencer moved closer to the door. What was she hiding? He tried to peek over her head but she stepped outside and closed the door behind her. "What are you trying to do?" She asked him, her patience was starting to grow thin.

"It just...you're being weird again."

"Spencer, I told you, I _don't_ want to talk. Maybe it's weird because you can't take a hint or something?" Hopefully that was what it would take for him to finally leave.

Rick could hear the two arguing outside and was unsure whether or not to step in. What the hell was Spencer doing there anyways? And why did he want to talk to her so badly? He decided to step in, he wasn't done talking to Rose and it didn't seem like she wanted Spencer around anyways. He shoved the gun into a drawer in the kitchen and stepped outside.

The door behind them opened and they both turned to see Rick with a not so happy look on his face, "Rick?" Spencer was totally confused. Is that why she wasn't letting him in?

"Spencer." Rick replied flatly, hoping he wouldn't have to get aggressive.

Spencer's jaw tensed, he looked at Rose and then at Rick, before it seemed to click. "Already?"

She was taken aback, "What? You think me and him…?"

Spencer nodded his head, his frustrations growing, "So that's why you're trying to get rid of me, huh?"

Before Rose could reply, Rick stood between her and Spencer, "I think she asked you to leave." His tone was firm, he didn't want to put up with any of this bullshit.

He huffed and stepped closer to Rick, "I was talking to her, Rick. Not you."

Rose was already past irritated, couldn't he just fuck off already? She pushed past Rick, "Spencer, just go. I don't want to talk anymore. Just fuck off already, please?" She added the please at the end, maybe that would help move things along.

He stepped back and sulked, feeling stupid for showing up in the first place. Aiden was right again and again, she was just a cold hearted bitch. "Alright, if that's how it's going to be-"

Rick cut him off, "Spencer, you need to leave. I'm not going to tell you again, and neither is she."

Spencer's jaw tightened again before turning on his heel to leave. _Thank fucking God_ , Rose thought to herself before motioning Rick back into her home. They weren't finished with their conversation yet.

* * *

Rick broke the silence between them, "What was that about, Rose?"

She looked up, shocked and surprised he asked in the first place. She was hoping that he would just drop it and go back to what they'd been talking about, "Just nothing important, stupid shit with him and it doesn't matter now."

Before he got the chance to ask another question, she continued talking, "So about the armory…"

He looked at her puzzled, tilting his head slightly and tensing up a bit. What on earth could she be going on about now? "What about it?" Did she somehow see Carol sneak in last night? He kept his composure regardless, so that he wouldn't give anything away.

She let out a small snort, "Don't play stupid with me, Rick. You really think Carol is that good?"

His breath hitched and he wasn't sure what to say, so he nodded for her to continue, making a mental note that Carol should probably keep away from the armory since Rose was onto her.

"I get it, you guys didn't want to give up your guns - shit, I didn't and I won't give them up." She leaned forward, closing the distance between them, "You know I help Olivia with the armory, right?" Her voice lowered, in case Spencer was still looming around, or anyone else for that matter.

"I didn't know until now…" He trailed off, gears starting to turn in his head as he caught onto what she'd been hinting at. She could easily do what Carol's been trying to do: get into the armory to get some of their guns back. But the question now was, could he trust her? He'd only known her for only over a week. The one thing is though, she was so much different than the other Alexandrians. She'd been outside the walls, she'd survived out there unlike any of the people there. He could relate to her much better than anyone else in Alexandria, as much as he didn't want to admit to his group. They wanted to keep to themselves and just wait for the perfect opportunity for their next steps. They couldn't do that without guns though. "How can I trust you though?"

She looked around the kitchen, trying to find where he put her gun when Spencer showed up. When she finally found it, she handed it over to him, "You can have mine until I get you some of your guns back."

He hesitated before taking it, "Thank you." He felt a little relieved, but not too relieved yet - sure she could help out, but he wasn't sure how the rest of the group would feel about it.

Once she handed her gun over, she'd already starting coming up with a plan. "Now, I can't obviously get _all_ the guns back, Olivia would notice. But I can definitely take out a couple for you and some of your group, just let me know when and I'll do my thing and you'll do yours."

He held up a hand, _already?_ He thought to himself. First, he needed to run this by the group. Once that was over, then they could come up with a plan. "I need to talk to the others first, I don't know if they'd be okay with this."

She sighed, "I'm your best shot at getting them back though. Besides, it'll be kinda fun for me, I always wanted to be like a secret agent so this is totally my chance." She let out a small giggle before getting serious again. Stupid Rick always had to be serious, all she wanted was for him to lighten up a bit.

"Well, like I asked you earlier, why don't you just join us for dinner tonight?"

She felt a small blush creep up on her face, "I thought I already said yes?"

He nodded his head and stood up, "Sounds great, I'll stop by later to get you." He said before leaving.

The thought of Rick coming by later to pick her up for dinner made her feel sort of tingly inside, even though she didn't want to admit it. She told herself to relax, it's not like it was going to be a date or anything. Just a simple dinner to meet his group. _Oh god_ , she thought to herself. Why was she so fucking nervous? _What am I going to wear? What am I going to say?_ The last thing she wanted was to look stupid in front of Rick and his group. What if they didn't like her? What if they didn't trust her?

 _Okay, focus. You got this._ She kept trying to reassure her, before going to her room to find something to wear. Nothing too drab, but nothing too fancy. Not like she had too many options anyways.

"Please don't embarrass yourself, Rose." She said to herself before digging through her clothes. This was either going to be a good night, or a very long and awkward one.


	4. Chapter 4

Carol sat outside with Rick, while the rest of the group got dinner together. She'd been annoyed with him, and he could most definitely tell. It wasn't time to get Rose yet, and at this point he wasn't sure if that was a good idea anymore.

Carol broke the silence, "You really think you can trust her, Rick?" She kept her eyes on the street in front of them, avoiding any eye contact with Rick. While she'd been playing the part of a happy housewife who didn't know how to handle a gun and just loved chatting with people, she found herself mostly annoyed with the people there. She found them weak, just like the rest of the group did.

Rick stood up, eyes scanning the streets just like Carol, "She gave me her gun."

Carol scoffed in response, "Doesn't matter too much when she could have another one."

"I think she actually wants to help us, Carol. She's not like the rest of the people here, she's not like them."

Michonne opened the front door, forcing their conversation to a close, "Carol, can you help out in the kitchen? Daryl is useless."

"Sure can." Carol pushed herself off the bench and turned to Rick before entering, "Just stay focused, Rick. We don't know who we can trust here."

"You know I will be." He sighed and scratched at the stubble already growing back, reminding himself he'd need to shave it sometime. He wasn't a huge fan of the man bush he used to be sporting. "I'll be back soon."

* * *

Rick appeared on her doorstep moments later, he waited a second before knocking. Some part of him was nervous, and he couldn't pinpoint exactly why. There was the fact that Carol didn't seem to happy about the new guest. There was also some part of him that felt a little...excited to see her, even though he'd seen her earlier today. Then there was the whole part about trusting her, something that he didn't easily do.

Before he had the chance to knock, the door swung open, revealing a smiling Rose. She gave him a nervous smile, "Sorry if I spooked you, heh, I just heard you coming up the porch." He made way for her as she turned and locked the door behind her.

His breath nearly caught in his throat, she was a pretty woman but she looked more put together tonight. Instead of a baggy t-shirt and torn jeans, she was wearing a tight wife beater that hugged her curves, and black skinny jeans. Her dark brown, almost black, hair was tied back, revealing her features.

Rose stared back at him with her amber brown eyes, he noticed how well they contrasted with her golden olive skin, "You ready?"

Rick had to pull himself together, _stay focused_ , he told himself. Just like Carol told him to. It was too early to be getting caught up in a small crush, hell it wasn't even that. _It's not a crush, she's just a beautiful woman and that's it_ , he reassured himself. But, there was no doubt that he enjoyed her company. Which was why he found himself on her front porch almost every night in the past week. _You're just being a friend._

"Yeah, of course. Come on, let's go." She joined him by his side and they returned back to his home. It felt so surreal, being around Rick was so much different than being around Spencer. Spencer didn't get why she was the way she was, he pushed her to open up and it only made her close herself off from him more. Rick seemed more patient than him, he didn't treat her like an outsider, but like a friend. While yeah it was true that the other Alexandrians were polite to her, it always felt like they looked at her differently - because she came from the outside. She didn't hide away like cowards, like them.

* * *

Dinner was mostly a success, at least that's how Rose felt. She got to meet the whole group and they weren't as scary as she initially expected, well she didn't know what to expect really. It felt almost surreal to her, being around people who'd been living outside of the walls just like her. She felt like she was the only one left. The best part was that she actually felt welcomed - like she actually belonged.

Towards the end of the night, she offered to help clean up but Maggie and Michonne insisted that it wasn't necessary. She followed Carol and Rick outside to get away from the commotion inside, since whoever wasn't helping clean was egging on an arm wrestling match between the tall redhead named Abe and some quiet looking fellow who went by Daryl. Part of her was curious to see who would win, but there were more pressing matters at hand, like getting into the armory.

Rose was the first one to take a seat, "I guess it's time to get serious, yeah?" She leaned back in the sofa and placed her arms behind her head.

Carol took a seat next to her, "Yep, Rick has told me you can help us with getting our guns back." Carol kept her eye contact with Rick, almost as if to say 'you better know what you're doing', to which Rick sighed in response before pinching the bridge of his nose. At first, she seemed a little cold to Rose, probably due to her not being sure whether to trust her or not. Rose hoped that would change over time and she could prove herself to be trustworthy.

Rose sat up straighter so that the three could move closer together, that way other passing people wouldn't be able to catch onto their conversation. Her gaze fell upon her hands that were not on her lap, feeling a bit awkward. It'd been so long since she was working with another group. The only socializing she really had were her short conversations with the other women there, and of course the occasional fucks that used to happen with a certain whiny guy.

"Well, we're waiting." Carol began, with a slight cold tone, "What do you think is the best idea?" Rose completely understood where she was coming from though. While she didn't know _everything_ the group had been through, she was on the same page with the whole 'not trusting people' thing.

"I mean…" Rose began, thinking carefully about the best course of option. "Tomorrow is Deanna's party...don't you guys think that would be the best time?"

They both exchanged a look with each other before nodding in unison, "It would, but don't you think Deanna will expect you to be there?"

Rose frowned, yeah there was that. There was also the fact that Spencer would be getting drunk and be looking for her. "Yeah...probably, but I think I'd be the best shot, I know that armory like the back of my hand." She added at the end, sounding a little arrogant.

Carol rolled her eyes slightly before giving her a smile, "That's fair, but I've seen it myself too." Since Carol was the newest cook in Alexandria, it made sense that she'd been in the pantry, which was in the same house as the armory. She was confident that she would be able to get the guns herself.

Rose returned a smile, "Sure, but do you have access to the inventory list?" She asked, slyly, knowing full well that she could access it without Olivia even noticing, "If Olivia sees that guns are missing...well you know who people are going to think took it." She said before pointing to the two of them, "I can help you guys, you just need to trust me."

"Why though?" Carol asked.

"Because I think the rules are bullshit too."

Carol shrugged, "Well…" she reached out and gave Rose a small squeeze on her shoulder, "Tomorrow you're going to get our guns back. What do you say, Rick?"

He nodded in response before smiling at Rose, "Sounds good to me. Let's just keep this between us for now."

Rick's front door swung open to reveal Carl holding a cranky Judith. She'd been asleep through the whole dinner, just waking up now towards the end of the night. "Dad? I think Judith is a little grumpy." Carl gave a small laugh as Judith rubbed her eyes, keeping the frown on her small face.

Rose's heart nearly melted at the sight of her. She'd known about Judith, but hadn't gotten the chance to see her yet. Rick had the tendency of keeping Judith at home most of the time, understandably.

Carl handed Judith over to Rick, who then brought her over to Rose. "Judith, this is my new friend Rose." He took her small hand to wave at Rose.

Rose blushed, and laughed at how shy Judith was, who was now hiding her face in Rick's chest. "Can I?"

Rick hesitated for a moment, but gently handed her to Rose. It brought back memories for her, having a child in her arms again felt so surreal, almost. It felt so natural to her, to the surprise of everyone else. Most people didn't know that Rose used to have kids, well a family. They didn't need to know.

Judith was beginning to fall asleep in Rose's arms, even though she appeared cranky earlier. "She's so beautiful, Rick," Rose whispered, as to not wake her up. She just wanted to sit there and cradle her in her arms, she looked so much like her own daughter. _Stop thinking about that,_ she angrily told herself, _don't ruin this moment._

Carol scooted closer to Rose, beginning to warm up to her, "I think she likes you." Judith tended to cry a lot around new people, they were surprised that she was here just falling asleep in her arms.

"I think so too." Rick agreed, feeling surprised at how well Rose was handling Judith. Most people, like Glenn or Daryl, seemed to be hilariously awkward with babies - she looked like a pro compared to them. He thought momentarily about why or how, as she never mentioned any children of her own.

* * *

As it got closer to the end of the night, Rose decided to head back home. After saying her goodbyes and thank yous to the group, she was on her way. Rick insisted on walking her back too, joking about how she may have been too tipsy to make it back herself.

Once they reached the front of her house, she stopped before going in. Was it bad that there was a part of her that didn't want the night to end? "Do you want to come inside?" She felt a little awkward inviting him in like that, but she wanted to keep hanging out with him. Rose enjoyed talking to him, their conversations didn't feel as forced as they did with the others in Alexandria.

"Why not?" He followed her inside, closing the door behind him. He took a seat on her small loveseat in her living room, "How did you like it?"

"It was nice, I thought it was going to be a lot scarier heh. It was different than eating with the others here. I liked it more." She took a seat on the opposite end of the couch, making sure to keep her space from him. "It was really nice meeting your daughter Judith, thank you for that." She added quietly, hoping to not give away any of her emotions. It was so nice for her, but at the same time it made her heart ache a bit. It reminded her of how much she missed her own family.

"I'm glad you did, you seemed like a pro with her."

"Ah yeah," she leaned forward and rubbed the back of her neck, "Let's just say I've had practice before." Her voice cracked as she attempted to joke, but neither of them laughed. Humor was one of those things that helped her get past her grief, she couldn't spend too much time crying and sulking - she'd already done enough of that.

Rick dropped his head and looked the other way, immediately having a feeling of knowing what she meant by that. _I've had practice before._ She was a mother before all of this. He felt a slight pang of shame for bringing it up in the first place, but he didn't know it would be a raw subject for her. "I'm sorry, Rose. I shouldn't have-"

She shot a look at him, keeping her composure as to not make things awkward, "No, don't be. You didn't know. It's okay, Rick...there's nothing to be sorry about." She sighed and threw her head back on the couch, "Don't worry about it."

During this time, he scooted closer to her. She didn't even noticed. Rose was too caught up in her own thoughts, something she always tried to avoid. She wouldn't consider herself the most private person ever, but she just preferred to...well not talk about herself. She didn't do feelings. She just did what she needed to do.

The pain was still there, even though she tried her best to push it away. She never talked about it with anybody, even before all of this. Her family and close friends told her to go to therapy, to see a doctor, to talk to someone, anyone, about it. But the way she dealt with things was, if she didn't talk about it, it wouldn't bother her. Looking back, she realized it wasn't the best way to deal with it. But with the apocalypse now in full motion, Rose felt like there was no one left to talk to. Even with her group, even with her closest friend in the group, she felt alone.

There was a heavy silence in the air as Rick waited for her to say something. Anything would have sufficed.

Finally, she spoke up, "I think you should go home," she stared at the ceiling instead of looking over to him, "I just kinda want to be left alone. Long night."

He understood. He understood that she wasn't mad at him, but she just needed time. He couldn't just pry her for answers and risk the possibility of pushing her away forever.

She closed her eyes to try to sleep while Rick pulled away and left the house quietly, hoping he didn't screw anything up between them. Part of her wanted to run after him and just explain how she was feeling, but the other part just wanted to curl up into a ball on the couch and sleep the rest of this nightmare away. The second option seemed easier to her, and so that's the one she went with.

* * *

 _Am I the only one who thinks there's not enough WOC OCs? Anyways, thanks for reading and stay tuned!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Thanks for the love! Please review :)_

* * *

There was a faint knocking at her door, jolting her awake from her sleep. Rose found herself in the same position as she was last night on the couch, hands in her lap and her head laid back. She wasn't sure who to expect at the door.

When she dragged herself off the couch, she was surprised at who'd shown up. _What time is it?_ She groggily thought to herself before answering the door, only to be faced by a worried looking Jessie.

"Rose? Is everything okay? You look a little...rough." Jessie tried to tiptoe around the fact that Rose looked a bit of a mess. She'd been worried though, since usually most mornings Rose would stop by for a quick bite and chat before going off to do her own thing.

Rose ran her fingers through her hair, "Yeah, yeah. I'm just tired." She yawned into her hand, "I just woke up actually."

Jessie gave a sly smile, "Long night with a certain someone?"

She leaned against the doorway, returning the smile. She didn't always felt like she fit it in but she did like Jessie the most out of everyone there, "And who would that be?"

Jessie rolled her eyes in response, "Oh don't play dumb with me, everyone's seen you and Rick walking around here together." She walked past Rose into the kitchen, "Come on, you should eat something."

Rose followed her in and flopped down in her chair. At least having Jessie over meant that she wouldn't have to make something herself. She felt emotionally exhausted after yesterday, all night she dreamt of her family - making her miss them even more. She sat up to look over at Jessie, who was now putting together a small breakfast for them. Jessie's kindness was one of the very few good things left in this world.

"For the record, there's nothing going on between us. I have no idea where you got that, Jess." She said firmly, more so as a means of convincing herself. Well, there wasn't much to convince. There was nothing going on between them. They were just two friends who'd been spending time together due to loneliness. That's all there was to it.

"Oh I'm sure you're telling the truth, Rose." She grinned before handing a plate down in front of Rose. Jessie took a seat across from her, "So, what are you wearing for Deanna's party tonight?"

Rose could only groan in response. She had to go, she told Rick she would. That and she had to help out with the whole guns situation. "I wish you didn't remind me." She tried to think of what she could wear but was coming up short. It's not like she had too many options, when she came to Alexandria she had maybe two or three pairs of shirts, the pair of pants she was wearing, and just about that. The owner of the house she was living in had nice clothes, but they were about a size or two too big for her. The only things that looked halfway decent was the t-shirts, since those were baggy and she didn't mind too much. The dresses were a no go, since said previous owner also had a bigger bust than Rose, so she'd end up looking pretty goofy in them. She shrugged as she continued, "I guess I'll just wear what I normally wear. Are we supposed to dress up or something?"

Jessie fidgeted in her seat, "No, not really. But I figured it would be fun to get dolled up, you know?"

She knew Jessie had a point there, it'd been so long since Rose had actually gotten ready for something. But how could you think about that when you're just focusing on surviving? No, she didn't need to focus on that right now. Right now, she was safe. She was safer than being outside the walls. She nodded in response and smiled, "Yeah it would." There was still the issue of her lack of options, "I don't really have anything to wear though."

Jessie scoffed, "Oh don't worry, I can take care of that. Just come over around 6." She stood up and made her way to Rose's front door, "I have to go check on Ron and Sam, but I'll see you later. It'll be fun, Rose." She reassured her, getting the feeling that Rose was a little hesitant to be going in the first place.

Rose nodded her head again, "Great, sounds good...thank you, Jessie. For everything."

Jessie turned before leaving, "Don't worry, it's what friends do."

* * *

Rick hadn't seen her the whole day. It seemed that she needed some space from how she just sent him home the night before. He wondered if he did anything wrong, besides the obvious of bringing up a touchy subject. _I should have known better._

At the moment though, he needed to focus on getting ready for this welcoming party that Deanna was hosting. He wasn't a huge fan of the idea, but Carol pushed him into agreeing since it would help them blend into the community even better. They couldn't be looked at as outsiders anymore. They needed to do things right if they wanted to call Alexandria their home. There was also the issue that if they had to leave Alexandria for some reason, he wouldn't see Rose anymore. _No, stay focused. Stop thinking about that._

Carol helped Rick choose a shirt to wear, and he ended up going with a simple light blue button down. He wasn't a huge fan about dressing up before anyways, even when Lori nagged him about it. The rest of the group kept it mostly casual, except for Daryl who didn't even entertain the idea of going. Sometimes Rick wished he could have that attitude.

* * *

"Wow, you look amazing, Rose." Jessie stood behind her as she examined her in the mirror. Rose almost couldn't believe it herself. It'd been so long since she really felt pretty. No amount of showers could really make her feel clean in Alexandria.

She eyed herself up and down in the mirror several times before turning back to Jessie, "And you look insanely gorgeous, as usual." She playfully pouted, it wasn't fair that Jessie was a natural beauty.

"Oh, stop. Come on, I think it's time to get going. Rick won't believe his eyes when he sees you." She harmlessly joked, knowing full well it was not just true, but a way to get under Rose's skin.

Rose merely groaned in response before grabbing her things and leaving with Jessie and her kids. It felt so weird to her to not be wearing boots or worn down sneakers, she was wearing pumps for the first time in _years._ And then there was the dress, she felt like an alien, but a pretty alien at least. She was most definitely impressed with Jessie's taste in clothes.

As they made their way to Deanna's house, Rose was preoccupied thinking about the perfect time to slip away from the party. First, she needed to meet up with Rick and Carol in there. Then she needed to find an excuse to go to the pantry, which may prove difficult given how everything needed at the party would already be there.

The small group stepped into the house, which was already filling up with people from all around the neighborhood. Everyone had dressed mostly casual, making Rose feel a little out of place. She moved around the crowd to see if she could find Rick or his group, but to no luck.

Rose shrugged to herself, _might as well get a drink while I wait._ She made her way towards the kitchen where the drinks were before clumsily bumping into Rick, causing him to nearly spill his drink on himself. She gasped and covered her mouth, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there, Rick." Rick? Where the hell had he been anyways?

He gave a slight chuckle, "Don't be. It's fine." He paused and looked her up and down, absentmindedly; Rick hoped she didn't notice. He hated how good her legs looked in the dress she was wearing, and cleared his throat to try to clear his mind. "Did you just get here?"

"Yeah, I was getting ready with Jessie. I had to borrow something nice, but now I feel like an idiot." What was she thinking picking out a dress? And heels? This was not proper survival attire. She'd be screwed if walkers somehow got past the walls. Rose wondered how celebrities back then were able to always wear heels.

"Why?"

Rose shrugged, "I don't know, I never wear dresses - obviously. I just feel weird, you know what I mean?." Even though she felt a little off in wearing the dress, it did resemble one she used to own before all of this. She especially liked the color of the dress, it was a pretty ivory color that flattered her skin tone. It wasn't too revealing up top, but it did show off her lean tan legs.

"Well, you look great." He blurted out before realizing it, "I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"Oh, uh- thanks, Rick. You look really nice too." She stammered back, hoping that Carol would come around so that they could get on with the plan and she could head home. The sooner, the better.

"Did you want anything to drink?"

"Sure, that's pretty much why I came in the first place." She joked as she followed him into the kitchen. A drink was pretty much what she looked forward to most nights.

* * *

Once Carol found them, everything was set in motion. Rose had already "fixed" the inventory list, and all she needed to do now was go to the pantry to get more cookie dough, at Carol's request.

Most of the crowd had been a little tipsy now, especially after Deanna's welcome speech for Rick's group. Rose couldn't help but laugh at how a lot of his group didn't really look like they wanted to be there in the first place. _Just like me._

As soon as the opportunity presented itself, she decided to slip out of the party. They'd all agreed on a meeting point outside of the wall for when she had the guns. If everything goes to plan, no one would notice a thing. At least, that's what the optimistic side of her thought.

Getting out of the party had proven to be easiest part so far, and the next part was getting to the armory itself, which was about two blocks away from the party. When she reached the house with the armory, she first checked that the lights were off before going in. She'd already seen Olivia at the party, so she knew it was empty. _That was a mistake_ , she thought to herself as she walked the perimeter of the house to look for the unlocked window that Carol told her about. She threw off her heels and reached up to the window, sighing a breath of relief when she heard a familiar _click._

Rose climbed through the window quietly, waiting a second to see if anyone was in there. Once the coast was clear for her, she stepped in fully and unlocked the large chest that had most of the guns. She grabbed the pillow case from Carol and filled it with three of their guns. Luckily, these three guns didn't have any unique markings so Olivia would definitely not notice them missing. And if she did for some reason, there was the inventory list that would keep Rose safe.

As soon as she finished, she made sure the armory looked as it did before she got there. On her way out she also remembered to get the cookie dough, since that was the main reason she was there in the first place. She then silently slid out the window and put her heels back on. Even when her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest, she felt pretty damn accomplished. _Thank you Alexandria for making that easy_ , she thought to herself as she slung the bag over her shoulder and made her way home. The plan was after that, she would return back to the party and the three of them would meet up outside the walls at the end of the night.

* * *

"Thank you, Rose. Really." Rick said as she handed the bag to him. He definitely felt like he made the right call in trusting her.

"Of course." Rose said in response, before looking over to Carol.

Carol tucked one of the pistols in the back of her pants, "It just feels good to have a gun again. I don't know how they do it here."

Rose shrugged, "Me neither. But the people here are different, they don't see guns the same way we do."

"Well you two, I have to head back. I still have cookies to make." Carol put on a fake smile, as she went back towards the wall with the bag of guns, leaving Rick and Rose in the woods.

Rose tried her best to laugh quietly, "She looks like she's having a great time here."

"I mean, she's done the best at blending in so far," He agreed before turning to her, "Thank you again. We appreciate the help."

"Hey, it's no big deal." She playfully shrugged, "And I like you guys, I wouldn't steal from the armory for anyone else."

"I'm glad," he retorted, "We should probably head on back before people notice we're gone."

She nodded her head in agreement, "Right." The whole night she hadn't gotten the chance to look at Rick, but now with it being just the two of them, she couldn't deny how great he looked. His button down fit his body so, _so_ well. Her mind started to wander as she followed behind him, trying to get a view of his ass. _God damn it, stop it Rose. You're a dog._ She cleared her throat and walked next to him so that she wouldn't be distracted.

The pair walked through the woods together, quietly as to not bring any attention from either the guards or any nearby walkers. Once they snuck back in past the gate, they had to part ways. "Wait!" She called out to Rick before he got far.

He stopped in his tracks and turned around while she tried her best to run to catch up to him. Rick broke out in laughter, seeing her stumble in the too high heels was just too rich. She gave him a half joking half "I could kill you" angry face before talking, "I gotta return these clothes back to Jessie, especially the heels." She groaned and she thought about how she was lucky she hadn't broken her ankle already, "But want to stop by in about a half-hour for a drink or something? I wasn't crazy about the selection at Deanna's." She playfully joked knowing full well that her own selection was probably the most limited in all of Alexandria.

Rick nodded his head and smiled, "I'll be there in a bit, Rose."

* * *

She nearly twisted her ankle getting up the steps to her front door. "God damnit, son of a bitch," she angrily muttered to herself. She was close enough that she just yanked them off, carrying them as she unlocked her front door. All she wanted to do was get dressed in more comfortable clothes and relax before Rick would come over.

Rose stepped inside her quaint home, reaching for the light switch before hearing a familiar voice, "You looked so beautiful tonight, Rose." The voice was lower and slightly slurred, and she immediately recognized it.

Spencer.

To clarify, a very drunk Spencer on her couch.

 _Why can't things go easy for once?_ She thought to herself as she flipped the light switch, hoping Rick would feel like stopping by a little earlier than they agreed on.


	6. Chapter 6

_Shit. Shit. Shit. What the fuck do I do now? What the fuck do I say? "Thanks"? "I thought I looked pretty hot too"?_

Rose slowly took her next steps, but made sure to keep her distance from Spencer. She was really at a loss for words, who the fuck breaks into someone's house like this? "Spencer," she began with a stern tone, "what the fuck? You broke into my fucking house?" She tried to keep her composure, but that was pretty hard given the current situation.

"I didn't-" He put up a hand as if he was trying to correct her, "I didn't break in. The door was unlocked." He hiccuped, clearly intoxicated.

 _Oh so that makes things better,_ she thought. She needed to keep herself calm. The last thing she needed was an angry, drunk Spencer. She knew that he wouldn't hurt her, at least that's what she liked to tell herself. Rose still wanted to play it safe though, "I need you to leave, Spencer. Now."

Spencer pulled himself off of the couch, stumbling to get his balance. "Okay, fiiiine. But first…" He stumbled again before he started to make his way towards her, "Let me-let me get a goodnight kiss." He said as he gestured to his cheek.

 _Oh hell no_. He tried to pull himself closer to her, and he was close enough that she could smell the heavy alcohol in his breath. Rose placed her hand on his chest, gently pushing him back. All she wanted was for him to just go away and to never do anything like this ever again. "No, Spencer, just leave." Her voice tried to remain firm, but was getting a little shaky. No doubt she was a little scared of what he could do, he could easily overpower her if he really wanted to.

"Come on, you know you miss me!" He slurred trying to kiss her, but she ducked out of the way, causing him to collide with the wall behind her.

"Just leave. I'm giving you one chance to leave. Leave and we can both pretend this didn't happen. Just get home and get sober." She pleaded as she slowly backed away, slightly hoping that he would either pass out then and there or Rick would show up and make this all go away.

He tenderly rubbed his forehead and turned back to her, causing her to move back some more. "I tried to talk to that one pretty girl tonight...but she turned me down like the rest." It's as if he'd completely forgotten about falling into the wall or where he even was.

She didn't care though, all she wanted was for him to leave. And then the second thing that she wanted was for him to never pull this kind of shit again. "That's a bummer," she decided to play along to coax him out of the door, "Maybe you can try again tomorrow when you're sober?" _Come on, just leave already._ Part of her wished she had her gun, but Rick still had it with him.

Spencer stumbled forward as he tried to reach for the door, "Yeah," he slurred again, "You're right. I-I think I will." He reached the door handle but Rose beat him to it, she felt relieved as she gestured him out the door. Even though she wanted to yell at him, he was leaving and that's all she really wanted at the moment.

Before Spencer could turn around for another attempt at a 'goodnight kiss', she'd already slammed the door in his face. He nearly face planted as he stumbled down the stairs of her front porch, but within minutes, he was on his way home - as if he was never there in the first place. Rose remained by her front door to keep an eye on him, praying he wouldn't turn around and try to come back.

Once the coast seemed to be clear, she plopped down on her couch. What the hell was she supposed to do about that? That could definitely _not_ happen again. She wasn't sure about the idea of bringing up the idea to Deanna since she figured there were bigger problems to worry about. But still, she didn't want to have to stay up to make sure he wouldn't try breaking in again.

 _I need a cigarette and a strong, strong drink._ She thought to herself as she changed into comfier clothes, opting for a loose t-shirt and some workout shorts. Rose decided that she would return Jessie's clothes the next day, _she would understand_ , she thought to herself as she grabbed her cigarettes.

* * *

Rick couldn't put a word on how he was feeling about seeing Rose that night. The last time they talked, it ended a bit awkwardly, to say the least. He wasn't sure about if they should just try picking up where they left off or to pretend that the topic never came up in the first place. It was a good sign to him that she invited him back though.

When he got to her front porch, he was a little surprised in her attire given the weather that evening. While the late summers in Virginia were warm, the nights were often a little more chilly. He watched her as she took a couple of drags from her cigarette, taking notice of how concentrated she seemed to be. She barely acknowledged him when he got to the front steps, "Aren't you cold?" He gave her a playful smile as he took a seat next to her.

Rose smiled in response, "Heh, not really." She said, her hand shaking as she took another long drag.

"You're not a very good liar." He leaned forward to remove his jacket and placed it around her shoulders.

"Thank you." She said, quietly.

"Are you alright?" Something seemed a bit off about her. Usually, she was more chipper about him coming around. Not saying that she was always smiles, but he got the feeling that she liked having him come by.

She shot a quick look to him before staring off in front of her again, "Yeah. I'm fine, just a little shaken up." She hesitated momentarily, before deciding _fuck it_ and that she should tell him. Something had to be done about Spencer, she just didn't know how to go about it. "When I got back, Spencer was on my couch. He broke into my fucking house, Rick." She shook her head, "That's just...beyond fucked up. The good thing was that he was drunk out of his mind so it wasn't that hard to get rid of him."

She noticed how his jaw tightened almost immediately, "How did he get in?" Rick asked, while thinking about the many ways he could hurt Spencer. No, that wouldn't fix anything but there was a reason he didn't like the guy. Something about him just rubbed Rick the wrong way.

She shrugged, still shaking a little bit, "He said the door was unlocked. I guess I forgot to lock it, but you just...you just don't expect this kind of shit to happen here. You'd think people were better than that." She finished her cigarette, "I'm sorry for talking so much, it's just I'm so fucking freaked out. God knows if he'll try to do something like that again…" She trailed off.

"Has he done anything like this before?" Rick asked, wanting more answers.

"No, thankfully." She rubbed her temple, feeling a small headache form already, "I just don't want it to happen again. Who does that shit?" Rose pulled her knees closer to her chest and leaned on her knee.

"Something needs to be done about this-"

She cut him off before he could finish, "No, it's fine, Rick. I can handle it myself - tomorrow. I just don't want to think about it anymore tonight."

He couldn't understand how she seemed so nonchalant about it, something _does_ need to be done. Spencer can't just break into someone's home and not have anything done to him for it. Rick didn't care that he was Deanna's son anymore, this had gone too far. Besides, he was confident that Deanna would not put up with this shit, she didn't put up with Aiden when he decided to try to start something with Glenn.

She pulled out another cigarette from her pack and lit it up, "I don't even know if I can stay here tonight."

Rick looked over to her, confused. What could she mean by that? "What are you saying?"

Rose shrugged in response, "I just don't feel safe after that. Can you blame me? Imagine if he wanted to hurt me, he easily could've."

Rick tensed up again, feeling beyond angry. What Spencer did was unforgivable, regardless if he hurt her or not. He didn't even want to think about what he would do if Spencer _did_ hurt her. It took a lot of restraint for him to not go over to Deanna's house and choke Spencer himself. _Slow down_ , he told himself, _you can't do things like that - not here. Not if you want you and your people to stay._

He wasn't sure if it was appropriate to offer to stay at her house, given that they'd known each other for almost two weeks now. But before he could say it, she'd already asked. "I hope this isn't weird, but would you be able to stay tonight? Just tonight." She paused to study his features and gauge his reaction. _Was that asking too much? Will he take it the wrong way?_ "It's okay if you can't, I would understand, Rick."

He put up a hand to stop her in her tracks, "I can, Rose. Don't worry, I can stay here tonight." The words slipped out of his mouth, surprising him at how easy they came. _I would do this for anyone else,_ he reassured himself. _Would you really? For anyone?_ He knew he was lying to himself. He was doing it for her, he knew he wouldn't do it for the other Alexandrians.

She exhaled a sigh of relief. Having Rick stay over would be one way to help her forget about the night. She would feel safe.

What she didn't know was that Rick wanted to keep her safe too.

* * *

 _Thanks for the faves & follows! Next chapter, Rick stays the night, what will happen next? Please review!_


	7. Chapter 7

Rick stayed on the couch while Rose slept in her bedroom, with the door open, of course. She insisted that he stay in the guest room, but he told her that he wanted to be closest to the door in case of anything happening - or anyone showing up. She also noticed one of the pistols tucked into his waistband. They were definitely on the same page.

The night had been mostly uneventful, up until Rose suddenly woke up, shaking and sweating from a nightmare. _Just a nightmare. Just another nightmare._ She kept telling herself in an effort to get back to sleep. Her hands felt clammy and she tried pulling the blanket over her head, but it wasn't helping. She shot up in the bed instead, rubbing her eyes and tried thinking of ways to distract herself.

She thought she'd been quiet, until she saw Rick standing in her doorway, looking worried. "Are you alright? I heard you scream."

She covered her face, she had no idea her nightmares were that bad. They plagued her for the longest time after she lost her family, but she thought she would be able to work past them fully. Looks like she was wrong there. "I'm sorry, it was just a nightmare." She rubbed the back of her neck nervously, "You should get some sleep. Sorry again."

He cocked his head to the side, as if he could tell that there was something much more to it. He hesitated in going back to the couch, but on his way out, she asked him, "Rick, do you ever dream about the people you lost?"

Rick looked over his shoulder and nodded gingerly. He didn't tell her who exactly he dreamed of, there was simply too many people to list.

"Good, glad to know I'm not the only one." She said meekly, as a small tear rolled down her cheek. Rose sniffled quietly, thinking about her group, her husband, her kids. Everyone she'd lost not only in this new world, but before it all started. She wiped her eye with the back of her hand to avoid Rick from seeing it.

She saw that he was making his way back to her couch but she wanted to stop him, "Rick!" She called out to get his attention. She slung her legs over the side of the bed and walked over to the living room, "Let's switch places, you shouldn't just sleep on here."

He gave her a slightly confused look, "I'm fine here, Rose. You should get back to sleep." He kicked his feet up onto the couch and laid down, trying to get comfortable. There was no doubt that his bed in his assigned home was much more comfortable, but he told her he would stay the night. He made a promise, and he was going to fulfill it.

Sighing, she took a seat on the armrest of the couch. Rick always seemed like the stubborn type, almost like her. "Go sleep on the bed, Rick. It's more comfortable."

"And what about you?"

"I have a guest room," she retorted. She mostly kept out of that room, however, since she didn't really see the need for it. It was a room she just avoided for the most part. "But I can just sleep on the couch, really - it's fine." She said at her insistence, having Rick stay over was already more than enough. He didn't deserve to sleep uncomfortably on top of that.

"Rose, I said I'll be fine." He said, hoping she would just drop it.

She shrugged, "Fine, I'll sleep out here anyways. You could use some company anyways." She added at the end, jokingly.

Rick sighed and moved his legs off of the couch, giving her room to take a seat. "I take it you're not tired?"

She shook her head in response, "I don't want to sleep after that...I hate getting nightmares."

He gave her a small, yet reassuring smile, "I don't think anyone likes having those."

She gave a light chuckle in response before rubbing her temples, "I just hope they stop. It'd be nice to get a good night's rest again."

"You get 'em often?"

"Not as much as before."

He wasn't sure if it was right to ask, but he went ahead anyways, "What was your nightmare about?"

"My family. My husband and kids." She said with a deadpanned tone. It was time for her to open up a little bit. It was hard for her to relate to a lot of the other people there because she felt that they didn't experience loss like she did. But with Rick, she had a sense that he'd lost just as much as she did. She knew it wasn't right to judge the Alexandrians as much as she did, but it just came so easy when most of her conversations with them consisted of talking about what's for dinner or the newest gossip in town.

She choked up a little bit but continued, "It seems so stupid now to be upset over it, since I'm sure other people have lost their family in worse ways…but I lost my husband and kids in a car accident about three years ago." She used the back of her hand to wipe away a small tear from her eyes, no matter how long it'd been, it still stung as if it happened yesterday. "I was the one driving, one moment we're having a good time, and then...then the next I'm waking up in a hospital days later - just to find out that I was the only one who made it." It felt surreal saying these words out loud. It'd been so long since she talked about it to anyone. Jessie had a feeling that she used to have a family, but Rose never talked about it.

Rick was stunned, he never expected to hear this from her. He couldn't imagine the pain she'd gone through, hell he didn't even know how he got past losing Lori. Rick didn't know what he would do if he ever lost Carl or Judith. "I'm so sorry, Rose," he breathed as he scooted a little closer to her, as a means of comfort.

"I try not to think about it anymore, but there's just those times, you know...? Where you wonder what it would be like if they were here right now." She sniffled and continued, "I mean, that's selfish of me though, I wouldn't want them to see what shithole the world is now." That was the very small bright side she could think of at the moment, from what the doctors told her, her family didn't feel too much. Rose didn't want to think about what it would be like if her family had too see how everything was now, and the person she'd become. Before all of this, she couldn't fathom killing another person in order to survive. Now...she didn't want to think about all of the people she'd killed to protect herself or her group.

He gently placed his hand on top of hers as he listened. She froze for a second, unsure of what to say. Rose looked over to him, "Thank you for listening, Rick. I feel bad for unloading onto you like this…"

He shook his head, "Don't feel bad. I want you to know that I'm here to talk if you need anything, and I understand if that's not what you want." He reassured her to make it clear that he wouldn't pressure her into opening up to him.

She gave his hand a small squeeze, "That makes me feel better, thank you." She paused before thinking back to her nightmare, "I still don't want to go back to sleep. I can't. Everytime I close my eyes, I just get another flashback-" Rose couldn't hold it in any longer, she tried to control herself but it didn't stop her small sobs, "I'm tired of seeing their broken bodies." She added, barely able to keep herself from shaking.

He pulled her close into his shoulder, not caring if her tears got his jacket wet. He had to refrain from running his fingers through her hair, it was something he used to do whenever Lori was upset. It was almost as if he was at a lost for words too, he didn't know what to do but listen.

They sat there on the couch together, the room filled with her quiet sobs. After several moments, she started to pull herself together, feeling embarrassed that Rick had seen her like this. This felt too unfair to him, she thought to herself. She didn't want him to feel sorry for her, like everyone else did after the accident. She was stronger than that. But damn, she couldn't deny that it felt a little better getting it off her chest. She had a hard time opening up to her own group, with the exception of one night where she cried into Amanda's arms before falling asleep.

For the longest time after the accident, all she could do was blame herself. What if she took a different route, what if she wasn't driving, what if she'd gotten more sleep the night before.

"You don't have to go back to sleep if you don't want to." Rick finally said, after the long silence.

She pulled herself out of his arms and sat back up, hiding her face even though it didn't really matter. "I know - I won't. I'm sorry again, I shouldn't have-"

He cut her off, "You didn't do anything wrong, Rose. Don't be sorry." She had absolutely nothing to be sorry about. But he knew where her guilt was coming from, it was the same guilt he's felt this whole time anytime someone from his group died.

She leaned back onto the couch to get comfortable, she needed to ease her mind. For a period of time, she didn't have these nightmares. But whenever they came back, they came back strong. It was all a replay of what she saw before she lost consciousness, Steven in the front seat with a broken neck, Andy in the back seat unconscious and her youngest, Ava, bleeding from her head. That was all she could remember, and it was everything she wanted to forget. For the months that followed, it was all she saw whenever she closed her eyes.

"Rick, just go sleep in the bed." She mumbled as she lay back with her eyes closed. She didn't want to argue with him about he, which he could tell. All she needed was to just relax, she hoped that she would eventually be able to fall back asleep.

Only time would be able to tell.

* * *

The next morning, Rose found herself sprawled all over her bed. She must have fallen asleep on the couch, but it didn't explain how she ended up on the bed. Did Rick...?

She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes awake. It was just her in bed. There was almost a small part of her that wished he joined her in bed. _Stop thinking about that._ She told herself as she went to look for him in the living room.

His sleeping form was on the couch, she couldn't help but snort to herself. He was too damn stubborn and just had to stay on the couch. She was hoping he wouldn't wake up with too sore of a neck or anything.

Rose tried to be quiet as she got something for herself to eat, but it was too late once Rick started to wake up. She sat down at her kitchen table and looked over at him with a small scowl on her face, "How'd you sleep?"

He yawned into his hand before replying, "I slept alright." Rick started to rub his neck, though he wasn't going to tell her the truth that he didn't sleep too well. "Do you feel better today?"

"Hmm, yeah...I see that I woke up on the bed today." She said, with a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Well, I couldn't sleep here if you were in the way." He retorted.

She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed, "Thank you, Rick. For last night and for everything."

He stood up from the couch and nodded in response. Rick never felt like he was good at these type of things. Instead, he moved closer to her and pulled her into a tight hug, surprising her. She immediately felt like she was going to melt in his arms, and felt lucky that he couldn't see her face. It felt good to be around someone that could just _listen_.

Rick broke the silence after holding her for a couple more moments, "I should get going to check on Carl and Judith." He pulled away but kept his hands on her shoulders, "I'll see you later though."

She nodded quietly while maintaining eye contact, her blush now fading. She knew he had to go back home, his group was probably wondering where he was the whole night. But the selfish part of her wanted him to stay. _Stop it. You're only clinging onto him because he listened to you._ Rose tried to shake those thoughts away as she said goodbye to Rick and returned to her breakfast, unsure of how else to feel.

* * *

 _Please share your thoughts and happy new year everyone!_


	8. Chapter 8

Things changed in Alexandria in the weeks following the loss of Reg and well, the execution of Pete. With that happening and the whole walker getting inside of the gates, there was little command Deanna had left. After all, Rick was the most experienced leader, he knew how to survive. His group knew how to survive. It only made sense for him to be the one calling the shots now.

In between helping Jessie out with anything she needed, Rose often found herself spending more and more time with the rest of Rick's group. They were slowly warming up to her, especially Michonne and Maggie. It used to sting a bit when she was first around them, since it reminded her of everyone she lost. But as she spent more time with them, she realized that she could eventually have a new family again.

It'd been about a month and a half since the incident, and everyone was now carrying guns or learning how to shoot. Rose showed numerous times outside of the walls that she was able to, in fact, handle a gun, so she would help in training the Alexandrians to shoot. She still had yet to join any of Rick's group with supply runs, which tended to be a whole other story altogether.

"Well, fuck me sideways, Jessie. It looks like you actually can shoot!" Rose playfully patted Jessie on the back as she made her way down the line. Her, Rosita, and Sasha had gathered a small group to practice some shooting, outside of the walls, of course. "Maybe you can come on a run at some point?" Rose yelled behind her, to which Jessie just rolled her eyes. There was no way that she was even close to ready to doing something like that.

As soon as Rose was about to wrap up, Michonne caught up with the group, looking for her. Rick, Glenn, and Michonne had been planning a supply run and figured it would be the right time to have her tag along. "How's it going?" Michonne asked, with her hands on her hips. She'd felt more comfortable lately now that she was able to always carry her katana, it was about time that Deanna came to her senses.

Rose sighed, "It's going, better than expected, at least." She could appreciate the progress the Alexandrians were making, it was going much better than in the beginning. Sooner or later they were going to need to not just rely on Rick and the rest of them for protection.

Michonne looked down the line of people practicing, making note of who would be able to come on the next supply runs and who needed more practice. Rose finished up fixing Ron's stance before leaving Sasha and Rosita to train everyone.

As they were making their way back to the walls, Michonne cut through the small silence between them, "So, Rose is your actual name?"

Rose let out a small chuckle, "It's a nickname, but my full name is Rosaline. My mom used to call me Rosa, but I just think Rose is easier, shorter, to the point, you know?"

Michonne smiled at her, "Yeah, I know what you mean." She pulled the gate behind them shut, "You ready for today?" She asked, wondering if it was the right time for her to come along in the first place. Rick seemed to take a liking to her the most, since she noticed how much time they'd spent together, which she found rather interesting but never said anything about it.

Rose holstered her small handgun on her hip, "Of course I am, should be fun."

Michonne shook her head, "Not sure if fun is the right word for it."

She frowned in response, "No, probably not. But it's better than sitting around in here."

Michonne nodded in agreement as they made their way over to the truck they were going to use, where Carl and Rick were arguing. Carl wanted to join the supply run, but Rick obviously didn't agree.

"Come on, dad. Don't leave me with these people!" Carl nearly shouted, clearly frustrated.

Rose butted in, "Hey, I'm one of those people!" She joked and then continued, "Besides, while your dad's gone, someone's gotta be in charge around here."

Rick agreed, "Carl, we need you to stay here and keep everyone in check." He put his hand on Carl's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, "Alright?"

Carl nodded quietly, "Sounds good, dad." He looked at the three of them, "Be safe out there, guys." He said before turning on his heel. Rick was right, there needed to be someone in charge while he wasn't there.

* * *

The four of them easily made it to their destination, getting out was another story altogether. There was the issue that the location, which was a large abandoned warehouse a couple of miles outside of Alexandria, didn't look to have too many supplies left. That alone made the trip feel like a waste of time. The other thing was that it was so run down that some parts of the roof had collapsed in some places, making it harder to make their way around.

The group had broken off into pairs as they searched the warehouse, making sure that there weren't any walkers lurking around in the dark. Once that was clear, they began the search for any supplies. Michonne tagged along with Glenn to search the left perimeter, which left Rose and Rick together to search the right side - which she was secretly more than okay with.

As they were making their way around the cluttered warehouse to look for some useful supplies, part of the roof suddenly collapsed, nearly hitting Rose. She ducked away in time and froze on the ground, waiting for any possible aftershocks. _Too fucking close_ , she thought to herself.

Rick called out to the other two to let them know everything was good before extending a hand out to Rose, "You alright?"

She took his hand and pulled herself up, "Yeah, I'm good. Let's keep going and then get the hell out of here." The two of them resumed searching the area but weren't able to come up with much. There were a couple leftover cans of food, so Rose threw those in her bag. But what Alexandria needed was more medical supplies and they could always use more weapons or ammo, so this meant that they'd probably have to make another supply run soon.

"I don't think there's much else here, Rick," she said quietly as she tried scanning the rest of the small rooms in the warehouse, "A lot of it has already been taken."

"Yeah," he followed closely behind her, "Looks like you're right. But at least we got something to bring back." He smiled as he shone his flashlight on a desk in the room they were in, catching her attention. It was a chocolate bar, and not just _any_ chocolate bar, but her _favorite_ one. He remembered how she mentioned it offhand one night, how that was the one thing she wish she could have stocked up on if she knew that all of this was going to happen. He wasn't sure whether she was joking or not, but he knew that Milky Ways were her absolute favorite treats.

Her jaw dropped when she saw what he was pointing at and slowly reached for it. It'd been what, a year? Two years, maybe? She couldn't even remember the last time she found an intact Milky Way.

"I won't tell if you don't." He joked as she quietly snuck the bar into her bag, feeling slightly bad about hiding it. _They don't have to know_ , she thought to herself.

"How can I trust you, Rick?" She gave him a playful smile before scanning the rest of the room.

"We can make a deal, I get half of the bar and no one will have to know." He shone the flashlight in her face to annoy her.

She gasped in response at the nerve of him, knowing full well he was aware of Milky Ways being her favorite candy. But she had to agree, "Fine." She replied, curtly.

He laughed in response and continued searching the room with her, but to not much avail. The pair then decided to meet with the other two to get out of there before it got dark.

"Anything?" Michonne asked as she slung her bag over her lean shoulders.

Rose shook her head, "Not much, just cans of food, which is still good." She looked over to Rick, hoping that their small secret would stay just between them.

"I guess we're going to have to look for another place to check out," Glenn began, "I'll mark this one on the map too when we get back." They had to keep track of all the locations that had been scouted out so that they didn't end up wasting time in going back to a place that wasn't worthwhile in the first place. Luckily for them, this warehouse was one of the few that weren't too worthwhile. The rest usually had enough supplies to warrant the trip.

"Great, let's get this in the truck and head back." Michonne said as she led her way outside of the warehouse, with the rest of them slowly trailing behind her. Rose was in the back of the crew, keeping the light shining in front of her so she wouldn't fall over, since balance was never really her strong suit. She also wanted to be sure not to miss anything on the way out.

The four of them were on their way out when another part of the roof above them suddenly collapsed, and this time Rose wasn't able to dodge it in time. She was instantly struck in the head and everything went black for her while more rubble crashed down from above. The roof was still mostly intact, but that was something that could change at any minute.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Michonne and Glenn followed Rick as he rushed to Rose's side, as she lay unconscious on the warehouse floor. It was hard to tell the extent of the damage, all he could tell was that she was bleeding from her head. They needed to get out of there and needed to do it fast, since the crashing sounds had to have attracted walkers in the area.

"Is she breathing?" Glenn asked, his tone laced with worry. This was the last thing they needed. Alexandria also no longer had a doctor since the whole incident with Pete, it was just Denise, who hadn't even treated anyone yet. They had no one else though.

"Looks like it," Rick carefully snaked an arm around her slim neck to offer support as he lifted her up, "Glenn, grab the bag." He ordered as he rushed outside of the warehouse, hoping they would be able to beat the possible incoming horde, which may have not heard the first crash but would surely be attracted to the second one. Michonne followed and started up the truck after throwing their bags in the back, while Glenn climbed into the front seat, gun at the ready in case of any incoming walkers.

Rick lay her down on the back seat, grabbing a rag to slow down the bleeding coming from the multiple wounds on her head. The main cut on her forehead didn't look too deep, but that wasn't the concerning part.

Glenn looked back from the front seat, "Jesus...I hope she's alright…"

"Just pass me another rag from the front," Rick said as he continued to apply pressure to her head wounds, not looking up from her. _She's going to be fine,_ he tried to reassure himself. Glenn passed back another towel and medical tape, hoping that it would help placate the bleeding until they got back.

"Come on, Rose…." Rick said quietly to the unconscious Rose, having some hope that she could hear him. His hands were covered in blood as he continued to hold the towels to her wounds. With a clean rag, he used the medical tape to tie it on as best he could.

All Rick hoped was that Denise had the right training to treat this type of trauma, otherwise…

For the first time in a while, Rick didn't really have a plan. And that scared the hell out of him.

* * *

Denise managed to stop the bleeding, but with that out of the way, there was still the problem of Rose being unconscious. Without proper machinery, it was hard to tell the extent of the damage. It didn't help that Rick had been hovering around nonstop, hands still covered in blood, it also seemed that he didn't even check in with the rest of his group upon their return.

"Rick, you should head home and eat, get some rest." Denise tried to assure him, "I can take care of her." She said, hoping that it was actually the case. It wasn't that she was incompetent, it was just that it was the first time that Denise was the one calling the shots in terms of treating someone. _You learned all of this in medical school,_ she thought to herself as she started cleaning the dried blood from Rose's face. Why did she have to be the one in charge? Denise was scared shitless about treating Rose, or anyone for that matter - but she didn't show it. She couldn't. Now was just not the time.

Rick paced back and forth in the room, as if he didn't hear what Denise had just said. He lost track of how long they'd been back already, all he was focused on was Rose getting better. Her waking up and being safe. That's all he wanted at the moment.

"Rick, did you hear me?" Denise looked up, slightly annoyed. He very clearly needed a break, and she didn't want to have to get Daryl or Michonne to drag him out of there.

He finally looked up, "What?" Denise noticed the dark circles under his eyes, showing the lack of sleep. Rick looked beyond exhausted, and he needed a break. But she could tell that that would be hard for him.

"Rick, she's stable for now." She was hoping that this would stay the case for the rest of the night. From what she could tell and from Rick's story, it looked like a mild to severe concussion. That could change however, depending on how long Rose would be unconscious for. But the only thing that she could really do at the moment was continue to monitor her vitals and just hope for the best.

"Good." He said before taking a seat by the bed, holding his head in his hands. He couldn't blame himself, he knew that, but that still didn't prevent him from wishing he could have done something different. If only he'd pushed her out of the way, or if she didn't go on the supply run in the first place.

There was a soft knock on the door, interrupting Rick's thoughts and the faint beeps of the heart monitor.

He slowly got up and opened the door, revealing a worried looking Michonne. She stepped in quietly and went to Rose's side, looking at the extent of her wounds. "How's she doing?"

Denise sighed, "It's hard to tell, really. It looks like a concussion, I just don't know how severe it is." She said with a slightly defeated tone, it felt that no one really knew the weight that was on her shoulders with her new position. "We just have to wait." She took a seat in the chair opposite of Rick, before adding, "I was just telling Rick that he should go get some rest."

Michonne shot a look over to Rick, knowing full well that Denise was right. It'd been a couple of hours since they'd gotten back from the supply run but Rick hadn't left the building at all. Michonne had faith that Denise would be able to take care of Rose the whole night, but had a feeling why Rick was still there this whole time. She'd been noticing the way he looked at Rose sometimes, in addition to how much time they'd been spending together. But again, that wasn't something that she was going to bring up anytime soon.

Michonne lay a gentle hand on Rick's shoulder, "Come on, Denise is right, you should get some rest."

He sighed and ran his fingers across his stubble, "I'm fine." He remained short in his reply, although that wasn't his intention. The truth was, he just didn't want to leave her side. He wanted to make sure that she was going to be okay.

Denise nodded to Michonne, who then lifted her hand from his shoulder. It looked like no amount of convincing would get him to leave, so she didn't try anymore. Michonne grabbed Rose's limp hand and gave it a small squeeze, hoping that the woman would recover quickly and well.

On her way out, Michonne looked back over her shoulder to see a worried Rick and equally worried Denise.

All they could do right now was hope.

* * *

 _Thanks for the love everyone! Please read & review :D_


	9. Chapter 9

Rick only left once or twice over the course of the night, both times to just check on Carl and Judtih. Some people visited too, Maggie brought some dinner, then Glenn stopped by to try to talk about their next supply run, to which Rick just listened to half-heartedly. Carol stopped by to try to convince Rick to leave and get some rest, but he just quietly declined and stayed put. Jessie also stopped by to offer some help, but Denise assured her that it wasn't needed, at least not yet. It was still hard to tell how severe her injuries were without the proper machines.

Carl was the last to visit before heading to sleep, feeling a little worried himself. He had to admit that the woman had grown on him a bit, just like she'd grown on his dad. "Don't worry about us tonight, dad. Just stay with her until she gets better." Carl told him before returning home, leaving his father with the still unconscious woman. He, like Michonne, had a feeling that she was pretty important to Rick, but didn't say anything about it.

The room was silent aside from the faint, monotone beeps from the heart monitor, but Rick finally spoke up, "We shouldn't have stayed there." He didn't want to blame himself, he couldn't, the roof falling on her was random. But he should have known better than to stay in the warehouse. With the roof looking unstable, it was a mistake to go in the first place. They should have left. They shouldn't have bothered searching inside. It just wasn't worth it.

Denise went back to checking Rose's vitals again, ensuring that they remained stable. She was feeling a little uneasy with how long Rose had been unconscious for, as it was going to hit the five hour mark soon. She remembered from medical school that a period of unconsciousness lasting more than six or so hours was a sure sign of a severe brain injury, and she definitely didn't have the right technical equipment to treat that. Denise didn't know if she was even capable of treating that.

Part of her wanted to tell Rick to go home again, but she knew it would just fall on deaf ears. He didn't seem to want to be anywhere else, and she could tell he felt partly to blame for the whole thing in the first place. "She's going to be fine, Rick." She assured him gently, "We just have to keep watching over her. But if you want-"

"I'm fine here." He said, a little irritated. He instantly realized how he sounded and apologized, "Sorry, it's just-"

She cut him off, "It's fine, I get it. I want her to get better too."

Rick sighed and leaned back in his seat, starting to feel a little exhausted. It'd been a long day, but it wasn't over yet. Not for him, at least. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, trying to relax a bit. But it was just too hard, his thoughts were clouded as all he could think about was her. What they would be doing if she didn't get hurt in the first place, he would join her on her front porch, maybe with a cold beer in his hands, and they would just talk about anything that was on their minds that night. It was one of the few things that he looked forward to most days.

The weird thing was that lately he'd started feeling guilty afterwards, as if he was doing something wrong. It almost felt like a betrayal with how much time he'd spent with this woman. Lately, he'd been noticing small things about her that he just liked, like the way she covered her mouth when she laughed, or how she smiled even after accomplishing the smallest of things, like not burning her dinner, since she told him once that she was never a great cook even after being raised in a Mexican household. Or how she always seemed to know the right thing to say and the right time to say it. He noticed how the small wrinkles formed at the corner of her eyes when she smiled at him, it sometimes felt like those smiles were just meant for him too. There was no denial of his physical attraction to her either, especially after that night at Deanna's party, with what she was wearing now burned into his mind. Damn, he couldn't get that sight out of his thoughts, even though he wasn't sure if he wanted to.

But there was something else there, and it was getting harder to hide, even the rest of the group was picking up on it. She was the first outsider since the prison that he's seemed to trust so much.

It'd been so long since he felt like this towards another woman, ever since Lori…

No, he couldn't think about that. Not right now, at least. It would have to wait. Rick needed to focus on everything but that, he couldn't have those be a distraction. She was just a good friend that he cared about. _Maybe too much_ , he thought to himself as he stirred in his seat, trying to find other ways to distract himself.

His thoughts were quickly interrupted when a small groan erupted from the still body. Both him and Denise shot a look to Rose, who was now stirring a little bit. Her eyelids fluttered before opening, and she tried to get up, but Denise stopped her.

"Rose?" Denise looked amazed, she didn't expect for her to be awake already. She actually didn't really know what to expect.

"Where the fuck am I?" Rose asked, irritable and confused. The last thing she remembered was gathering supplies with Rick, and now here she was in a room that she didn't recognize, hooked up to some machine.

"Slow down, Rose." She instantly recognized the voice - Rick. He reached out to prevent her from getting up too quickly. Just because she was awake didn't mean that she was out of the danger zone yet, Denise had been telling him earlier that she would need some close monitoring for the next couple of days.

"You're in Alexandria, Rose. Just relax, you need to take it easy." Denise began, with a soft tone and then continued, "You suffered a concussion earlier and have been unconscious for the past five hours. How are you feeling?"

Rose groaned in pain as she tried to sit up, but Rick stopped her again. Damn if she wasn't so stubborn. "Shitty...what the hell happened?" She reached up to rub her temple and felt the bandages, unsure of how she got them. Her jaw slightly dropped, feeling even more confused.

"You were knocked out on our supply run." Rick replied.

"Jesus...well, what now?" Rose said as she looked over to Denise, who was now writing some notes down. She didn't want to just be cooped up in there for the next week or so, they had shit they needed to get done. Plus, being in there just reminded her of her long stay in the hospital when her accident happened, something she didn't want to be thinking about.

"Well, Rose, you just have to take it easy for the next couple of days. I'm going to have to monitor you pretty closely to make sure that you don't get any worse."

She tenderly rubbed her cheek, "Not happening, we still have supply runs to do and-"

Rick sighed and spoke up, "No, you're going to stay here and take it easy. Don't worry about that, just focus on getting better." He was hoping that she would just follow Denise's instructions, but it wasn't looking like that was going to be the case at all.

Rose rolled her eyes in response, "I'm fine, really guys. I just have like a headache but I can just get some sleep tonight and I'll be all good tomorrow." She said as she sat up a little too quickly, causing her headache to sharpen. Her face winced slightly in pain but she hoped they didn't see it. She tried sitting up again, this time she was able to, but she immediately felt slightly dizzy. She gripped the side of the best to hold herself up, but Rick could tell that her balance wasn't too great as he held out an arm for her to use as support.

Denise stood over her with a hand on her hip, looking slightly annoyed, "Rose, please listen to Rick. Concussions are so tricky to diagnose without the right equipment that all I can do is just watch you closely until your symptoms subside." She hoped that she wouldn't need to spend too much time trying to convince the stubborn woman.

Rose blinked a few times as she thought about how much she didn't want to just be inside of this makeshift infirmary for the whole week. She tried to think of multiple ways to get out of there without pissing off either of them, "So I can't go home or anything? I'm stuck here?"

Denise was almost dumbfounded. This woman had suffered more than just a 'mild' concussion and it didn't seem to bother her one bit, "Well, you can. But I'd have to go with you to make sure nothing else happens."

Rose groaned in response at the thought, but Rick spoke up before she could reply, "No, Denise, you don't need to do that." He smiled over to Rose, knowing full well that she didn't like the idea of someone taking care of her but she was going to have to put up with it either way, whether it was from Denise or from Rick. "You should take a break, I can take her home and keep watch over her."

"Rick…" Denise began, unsure of whether it would be a good idea to let her patient even leave in the first place. She couldn't deny that a break sounded nice, but this was her first and important priority if she was going to be the only doctor in Alexandria.

He put up a hand to stop her, "I promise, I'll bring her back if anything changes - whether she likes it or not." He added at the end, with a light laugh.

Rose crossed her arms and looked slightly irritated, she didn't want to be babysat. She could handle herself, she knew herself better than anyone else. She liked to think she _would_ return if any of her symptoms worsened...well, maybe. But this was better than having Denise watch her, who would probably freak out over the smallest changes since it was now her job to do so, at least that's what Rose thought.

Denise looked over to Rose, "Are you sure you're good with this?"

She nodded eagerly in response, anything to get out of there was fine with her. "Yeah, cool with me. I just want to take a shower." She said as she stood up fully from the bed and grabbed her things, all carefully of course as she still felt like the room was spinning. _Just play it cool until you get back home._

On their way out, Rose felt slightly nauseous but didn't say anything about it, instead she focused on just getting home and getting cleaned up. Denise also called out to them to remind Rose to be careful with the gauze on her head, to which she ignored as she tried to remember where she last left her cigarettes, or if she even had any.

* * *

Once they were back in Rose's home, she plopped down on her couch and slung her legs over it, leaving little to no room for Rick. She didn't need babysitting, she just wanted to spend some time alone and let whatever the hell was wrong go away on its own. Everyone was just overreacting, in her opinion. She held her head, that was now somehow forming another dull headache, "You know you can leave, right?" She said to Rick, in a more irritated tone than intended.

He took a seat at her kitchen table and scoffed, "You think I'm going to leave?"

"Well, that's what I was hoping." She retorted, not wanting to spend more time on the conversation that was already starting to painfully begin. Why couldn't they both just leave her alone? She swore that all it would take was a good night's sleep and she would be back to 100% the next day.

"You heard the doc, Rose. One of us has to make sure you don't get worse or anything…" His voice trailed off, wondering why he insisted on coming in the first place. _It's because she's a friend, nothing more._

She closed her eyes, still holding her temples, "Sure, fine, whatever. Just stop talking, please." She wasn't trying to be a bitch, but damn if her head wasn't throbbing so much. That and the fact that every time she was standing up, she wanted to throw up. _Just sleep it off,_ she thought to herself.

Rick listened to her and slumped down in the chair, thinking to himself that it was going to be a long night. He tried his best to get comfortable, but not too much since he'd have to periodically check on her throughout the night.

"Hey, Rick?" She said quietly as she kept her eyes closed, "You can go sleep in my bed, I'm fine here."

"Rose, I have to stay out here and check on you." How the hell she was up for arguing was beyond him. Why couldn't things just be simple with her?

She groaned in response, "Ugh, who gives a shit? I'm still alive. Just go get some sleep." This babysitting shit needed to be over as soon as possible.

He ignored her, hoping that she would just drop it but she just continued, "Fine, if I go to my bed, will you take the couch?"

Rick knew he wouldn't be able to stop her if she decided to get up and go to her bed, for fear of making things worse. He decided to just go with her on this, "Do you need help getting there?"

"Nope." She said as she nearly stumbled off of the couch. Rick didn't listen and joined her side anyways, slinging her arm around his shoulder for her to keep balance.

"I told you I didn't need help." She said through gritted teeth, she hated having to rely on someone else.

"Didn't look like it." Rick replied as he walked her over to her bed, hoping that she would just fall asleep as soon as she got in. "Just get some rest, alright? Wake me up if you need anything."

The last part made her feel a little bad with how shitty she was being to him, but she was always bad at apologies. She never liked admitting she was wrong, but he was already aware of that and figured that she was just not in the best mood after everything that went down.

As she climbed into bed, being careful with her bandages, she looked up at him through her dark eyelashes, "Why don't you just stay in here? The bed is more comfortable."

He was almost taken aback and almost at a slight loss for words, "Are you sure?"

She patted on the bed beside herself, "Of course, you shouldn't sleep on that piece of shit anyways." She said, nonchalantly. The bed was big enough for them anyways, and then some.

Rick hesitated before shaking off his jacket, "Okay, I'll do that." He climbed onto the other side of the bed, and slowly got comfortable. Part of him felt somewhat awkward, since this wasn't what he expected. But the other part...it almost felt a little...natural? He didn't know what to think of it.

"Goodnight, Rick." She said softly before closing her eyes, hoping that her good night's sleep would get rid of her annoying headache.

Rick swallowed before replying, "Goodnight." Was she not aware of the effect she had on him at times? He shifted in the bed a couple of times before he was more comfortable, and focused on her soft snores in an effort to fall asleep himself.

Tonight was really going to be a long night.

* * *

 _Thank you for the love everyone! It means so much to me :)_

 _I also originally wasn't going to have the last bit, but why the fuck not?_


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